May 26, 2019 18:00:00

What is the difference that you have seen using the latest Android OS smartphone “Google Pixel 3a” under 50,000 yen compared to Pixel 3?

Google's smartphones “ Pixel 3a ” and “ Pixel 3a XL ” released on Friday, May 17, 2019 are positioned as low-priced versions of

Google Pixel 3 , the high-end model of the Pixel series. Although some functions were omitted compared to Pixel 3, I tried to see how Pixel 3a, which has dropped to nearly half the price, has actually changed from Pixel 3 while using it for several days from the release.

Pixel 3a & Pixel 3a XL-vivid camera-Google Store
https://store.google.com/product/pixel_3a

First, I moved the benchmark application “ Antutu Benchmark ” on Pixel 3a and Pixel 3 at the same time to measure CPU and graphics performance. The result of Pixel 3 adopting high-end model Snapdragon 845 for SoC is the following image. The total score is 233,237, with 71,878 CPUs, 104,235 GPUs, 44,723 user experiences, and 12,401 memory reads and writes.

On the other hand, the result of Pixel 3a which adopted Snapdragon 670 which is middle class

SoC is the image below. The overall score is 133,320, with a CPU of 46,492, a GPU of 44,452, a user experience of 32,660, and a memory read / write of 9716. 3a is a low-priced version of 3 and its performance will inevitably drop, but the GPU performance is particularly bad.

The following movie shows 3DCG rendering during the benchmark. Pixel 3 on the right and Pixel 3a on the left, but Pixel 3a takes longer to process, and you can see that the movement is quite stupid.

Comparing Antutu Bentimark's 3DCG rendering on Pixel 3 and Pixel 3a-YouTube


“I understand the specs but what does it feel like when I actually use it?” With Pixel 3a and Pixel 3 with the battery charged to 100%, taking pictures and launching apps while wandering Did. In addition, “ Idol Master, Cinderella Girls, Starlight Stage ” and “ Pokémon GO ” as well as “ Battery Mix ”, an app that monitors the battery and operating processes, are installed and resident on both terminals. The brightness of the display was set to 100%, the automatic brightness adjustment function and the battery saver were turned off, and when launching the app, the same two were launched simultaneously.

The photos in the shooting examples shown below are basically taken with the default settings, and are arranged in the order of “Photos taken with Pixel 3a” and “Photos taken with Pixel 3”. To reduce the file size, the image was reduced to 1200 pixels on the long side, and no image processing other than privacy processing was performed.

With ramen that was eaten at lunch in normal camera mode ...

Shooting yakitori for dinner. The rear camera of Pixel 3 and Pixel 3a is 12.2 million pixels, pixel size 1.4 micrometer f / 1.8, both are the same specifications, and there is no big difference in the photographed photos, but Pixel 3 is better I got the impression that I was able to shoot slightly clearly.

However, in portrait mode, there was a big difference between Pixel 3a and Pixel 3 in the angle of view. The following image was taken from

figma Kemono Friends Serval in portrait mode from the same location, and Pixel 3a shows that the face of Serval is larger. For this reason, Pixel 3a needs to be taken at a greater distance from the subject than Pixel 3 when taking photos with the same composition.

A flower that blooms on a street corner, shot in '

Night Scene Mode ' installed in the Pixel series camera app. If you compare the photos, the image taken with Pixel 3 seems to have been processed slightly brighter, but both have been taken beautifully. In the image processing that takes place when the shutter is released, Pixel 3a took about 1-2 seconds longer than Pixel 3.

I came to the

Kaiyukan .

Flowing waterfall

Penguin couple

I zoomed in with the same penguin couple.

Swirling fish school.

A penguin that swims underwater at tremendous speed. In some dark places, there might be a difference in image processing, or the color might change slightly. Pixel 3a does not have the

Pixel Visual Core that comes with Pixel 3. Pixel Visual Core is an AI chip responsible for camera-related tasks, so it may be that the processing time and results are slightly different due to being omitted.

A hawk crab seen in the deep-sea creature corner. I took a picture in night view mode because it was very dark in a deep sea creature tank. Although there are slight differences in color and brightness, there is no significant difference in the photo itself. However, Pixel 3a still took more time for image processing.

When you shoot a camera that swims in an aquarium with 'Google Camera', you can see what kind of fish it is. This did not differ much in search time.

I left the Kaiyukan and went to Namba in Osaka, where there are many tourists.

At the same time, I examined the radio field strength below. I thought that the sensitivity of the antenna might be higher in Pixel 3a that adopted polycarbonate compared to Pixel 3 with the body of aluminum frame and glass, but the radio wave intensity was not particularly changed, there were many people and the radio wave condition Even in bad places, the sensitivity is at the same level.

While holding both smartphones in hand and looking at Google Maps while connected to a

4G + line, I was walking around the shopping street of Namba, but there was no big coordinate shift between Pixel 3 and Pixel 3a was.

After walking for a day and carrying it around while launching the app, both smartphones had 0% battery in about 48 hours. The following image is a graph of the battery monitored with Battery Mix. Pixel 3a (top) has a slightly larger battery capacity than Pixel 3 (bottom), so we expected that Pixel 3a should last longer ... Actually, Pixel 3 lasts several hours longer To the result.

Below is the view of the power consumption of the application from the operation process. The power consumption of Pokèmon GO is clearly higher in Pixel 3a than in Pixel 3. When actually touching, there is no particular difference in the movement of CG movement, AR mode, GPS function etc., Pixel 3a was able to play comfortably at the same level as Pixel 3, but the difference in processing capacity is consumed It may have come out in the form of electric power.

Even when playing “Idol Master, Cinderella Girls, Starlight Stage”, there was no particular difference. The content is a rhythm game, so if you feel a little bit cramped, it will be stressful, but I was able to play with Pixel 3a and Pixel 3 comfortably. Pokémon GO also played with AR mode turned on, but although Pixel 3a may be slightly more, it does not visibly crack or abnormally heat, Pixel 3 and It was possible to play in the same way with Pixel 3a.

When I actually used it for a few days, there was no part that Pixel 3a was much inferior to Pixel 3 in the amount used normally. However, Pixel 3a, which is obviously a cheap version, drops in terms of specs, so there is a possibility that a difference will appear if you play 3DCG games that require considerable high specs.

In addition, Pixel 3a clearly takes more time than Pixel 3 even in image processing after camera shooting. However, there was no such thing as “looking at an icon that turns around forever” where it would be about 1-2 seconds longer. There is no big difference so that the photograph taken is also visible, and it can be said that it is a pretty attractive point that 'the camera can be used almost the same as the Pixel 3 at a list price of 40,000 yen.

However, as for the battery, although the capacity of the Pixel 3a has increased, it was a bit disappointing that it felt the same or slightly worse than the Pixel 3. Therefore, you may need to pay attention to managing resident apps for Pixel 3 and above. Pixel 3a has some parts that I don't want to use as the main terminal, but I felt that it could be used well as a sub terminal.